In the Saturday edition of The Daily, we look at a technical issue with Amazon’s cloud services network that has forced two major South Korean crypto exchanges to temporarily go offline. In other news, Malta-based digital asset exchange Okex has launched a platform offering information on initial coin offerings and Estonia has issued licenses to a new cryptocurrency exchange called Serenity.

Amazon Web Services Network Failure Hits South Korea

Upbit and Coinone, two leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, were forced to go offline Thursday morning due to an hour-long failure of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform in the country, Zdnet reported. The outage also affected a number of e-commerce hubs, with networks in Seoul taking the hardest hit. AWS confirmed the glitch in a statement quoted by The Next Web:

Between 3:19 p.m. and 4:43 p.m. PST we experienced increased error rates in the Asian-Pacific region.

AWS, whose cloud services are used by some of South Korea’s largest companies — including Samsung, Hyundai and Korean Air — has conducted an emergency inspection of its Asian network. According to media reports, it has assured customers the issue has been resolved and that the system is already operating normally.

The two exchanges were the only cryptocurrency platforms affected by the interruption of the company’s centralized cloud services. Following the outage, Upbit apologized for not being able to warn users in advance and said it would be canceling some trades under certain conditions. Coinone informed its customers it would undergo maintenance.

Okex Sets up Information Center for ICOs

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Okex has announced the launch of Okex Project Info, a platform offering information about token issuers, their roadmaps, their development progress and third-party reviews. The company promised strict monitoring of the data provided by the teams of the reviewed ICO projects in order to ensure the accuracy and unbiased nature of the published information. In an announcement, the exchange explained:

We created this platform with the mission of helping our customers to gain a better understanding of the projects before they make any trading decisions.

The digital asset trading platform also said that teams that fail to update the status of their projects every 30 days will be removed from Okex Project Info. “We are doing so to promote transparency in the ecosystem, letting our users know what to expect in owning the tokens,” the exchange said in a blog post.

Startups conducting ICOs are welcome to apply for listings on Okex Project Info via email. The team will contact applicants to confirm their details and guide them through the process.

Serenity Crypto Exchange Licensed in Estonia

New digital asset trading platform Serenity has obtained two licenses from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit. They will allow it to exchange digital and fiat currencies and operate as a provider of wallet services in the crypto-friendly EU jurisdiction. The company will officially launch its Serenity Escrow service by the end of this month. It is currently integrating a system that will allow it to process fiat currency deposits.

Revolut Crowned Europe’s Allstar Company of 2018

U.K.-based digital bank Revolut was crowned Europe’s Allstar Company of 2018 at the recent annual Investor Allstars Awards ceremony, Wired has reported. The fast-growing fintech startup, which raised $250 million earlier this year, recently announced that it now has more than three million users. According to GP Bullhound, an investment company and co-organizer of the event, Revolut has become a leader in the European tech ecosystem. A recently released report reveals the fast-growing sector is now worth around €200 billion ($230 billion).

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Bulgaria, which sometimes finds itself at the forefront of advances it cannot easily afford. Quoting Hitchens, he says: ”Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.“ International politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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